Release

by C. M. Steele

  “Yes, my queen, but we will be victorious.”

  “I know, but I fear at what cost.”

  “What are you thinking?”

  “It says that we will rule, but what of those we love. I can’t even consider losing Charlotte, Mary, Draco, or any of them. They’re all the family I never had.”

  “I can’t promise anything other than I will do all I can to make you happy.” I bent down and kissed her sad mouth. “Cheer up, my love. We may have an answer to the curse.”

  “She’s asleep.”

  “Give her to me and I’ll carry her down.”

  “Yes, sir,” she teased.

  “Later, you can call me sir. For now, we have some work to do, my mad scientist,” I whispered in her ear, nipping it gently.

  “I look forward to it—with pleasure. Let’s be off.” I took her hand and we teleported into the lab.

  Chapter 29

  Leonora

  Draco and Charlotte were already there waiting with Marco in his bouncer. I had one down in the lab for Esperanza.

  “Sorry, we couldn’t wait,” Charlotte apologized.

  “I’ve already set up the tray to take your blood,” Draco added.

  “I see both of you are very anxious,” I laughed, smiling and shaking my head. “Well, let’s get down to business.”

  Falcon did the honors of taking three vials of blood from me while Charlotte held the baby for us. Then I prepared the slide and slipped it under the microscope. “Interesting,” I murmured with my eyes studying the sample.

  “What is it?” Falcon asked, brushing his hand across my back.

  “In my last semester, we studied our blood and mine had been no different than the next. Now, there’s a dark ring in the center of each cell. Here, take a look.” I turned on the projector screen after connecting it to the microscope. Their eyes trained on it, all of them gasping at once. “Yeah, I know, strange right?”

  I pulled out the samples of blood, using Mary’s as my test. If there was a chemical change it was a good sign. “We may not have the correct reaction without sunlight. We have about twenty minutes before the sun sets.” Using a dropper while my slide was under the scope, I dropped a few drops of her blood. Immediately the cells fused and then parted. One set of cells became normal, looking like Falcon’s blood while the other turned into a dark clump. “Oh no, I don’t know what that means.”

  “There’s a reaction and that’s a start. Let’s see what happens when we expose it to sunlight,” Falcon said. He grabbed a slide and prepared a standard sample of Mary's blood. We took them both to the window that is a sunlight chamber. We both watched for a few seconds as the downward angle camera showed the samples. It wasn't long before the standard sample turned to a speck of dust. The other sample, on the other hand, had simply started to coagulate as blood does when it dries. We pulled it out and slipped both under the dual microscope. Tears poured down my face as the truth hit me. We had found the cure. A hundred questions went through my mind. Would a shot of blood work? Or would it take a pint? Could we manufacture a synthetic from my blood? Would it have the same effect?

  "Nora. Nora.” Hearing my name shook me out of my internal workings.

  "Oh sorry, my love. I'm running through the scenarios and possibilities." There were too many to consider.

  "No, that's good. It’s what I figured where your mind would go. We need to test a larger sample of Mary's blood and less of yours."

  "We have five minutes. Let's do this,” I offered, rubbing my hands together excitedly. I was amazed and eager to make it happen. Since I’d been made aware of their dilemma, I’d been anxious to find a cure for their curse. So many vampires had suffered for centuries.

  "I'll get dinner ready," Charlotte said. "We have to celebrate. Come on, Draco. Let them see if they can figure it out.”

  “Do you want us to take Speranza?”

  “No, I’ll set her in her bouncer for now.” I took her and placed her into her bouncer that Charlotte and I bought yesterday. Thankfully, the babies both loved them so that we could get some work done. Falcon already had the dropper ready before I was done strapping Speranza in. Draco teleported them out of the room and we went to work.

  After placing a vial of blood on a petri dish, I used just one drop of my blood to mix with it. The microscope showed the same result as the first time, so we tested it in the sun. The end result was the same.

  Falcon and I looked right into each other’s eyes and smiled until we were laughing deliriously. Our roaring laughter startled the baby and she started to cry.

  “Oh no. I’m sorry, my princess,” Falcon exclaimed, rushing to pick up our baby. “Yes, daddy has you. I’m sorry. A princess must rest, but your mama is amazing in so many ways that daddy can’t help but shout it to the world.”

  “What are we going to do? We have to test it some more before we can let people just walk out into the sun and think they’ll survive. I don’t want to be the death of people.”

  “We’ll have to figure out a way. We know that even a small drop of your DNA drags out all of the curse. I’m thinking at least a shot of it should do the trick, but we could do multiple shots. We’d have to test it and see. There will be volunteers.”

  “I want to talk to Draco before he leaves. Are you okay to come upstairs or are you planning to do more testing now?”

  “I can’t do any more testing, so I might as well go upstairs,” I said, as I cleaned up and stored the mixed samples. Tomorrow, I’ll evaluate their cell structure. If they maintain that would be a phenomenal sign.

  “First, I need something from you,” he said, inching closer to me. I shook my head because I know what he wanted. The beast has a minimal number of things he wants. The main one would be me completely naked. “Don’t shake your head at me, my queen. Your king demands your lips.” He tapped his mouth. I arched my brow, smiling and come to him. I want all his love, but for now, a kiss would be okay. With one arm holding our baby, he pulled me in with the other kissing me until I was breathless. “Now we can go celebrate.”

  I itched to do more testing tonight, but it would be better if I started just before dawn. With my speed setting up the testing and getting new vials of blood prepared would be easy. It was a matter of needing the sun as the key catalyst for the reaction. I had a feeling that it wouldn’t take a lot of my blood to heal those who were forced into the darkness, but how long would it last?

  “What do we tell the rest?”

  We entered the kitchen. “Congratulations!” Everyone erupted in cheers. Gideon, Mary, William were with Draco and Charlotte. Obviously, the cat was out of the bag.

  “I know that there’s a lot to be tested still, but if you want me to be the guinea pig I would gladly take the risk.”

  “I want to give it another full day of testing, but then we could go from there. There’s no guarantee that’ll last or that it’ll work with enough serum. After all, I can’t be giving out a pint of blood per vampire in darkness. It would take a lot of time to regenerate more, and there are thousands waiting.”

  “I understand. I hope that the time is near for people to be free. I wish that my dear love could have seen this. Will you let them know of this development?”

  “Not yet. If we do, the Lamia will find out and come after her. I can’t risk it until we are ready to start delivering doses.”

  I could see the absolute longing in Mary’s eyes, but this wasn’t something to be rushed. If it held for some time exposed to the sun, then I’d test it on Mary. I felt more confident after the second trial proved to be successful as well, but time would determine the outcome.

  I stepped up to her, wrapping my arms around her waist and pressing my head to her shoulder. “I’m sorry, this didn’t come in time for your family. But I’m going to start working again just before sun up, so I can have more time to study and test.”

  “If you need me at any time I don’t mind helping since I’m the only one here who’s in the darkness.”

/>   “Yes, Mary, I will. We must be careful though. Full exposure to the sun kills vampires, but when I feel a little more secure I’ll work on it.” I hugged her again.

  Chapter 30

  Draco

  “Dante, how are things going?” I asked, after meeting him at the edge of the large garden.

  “Everything is on track. Do you want to check the added systems we added since you and my uncle came?”

  “Yes, please.” Dante led the way to the new communications room in the castle. “How are the men?”

  “Doing well. They believe that the end is near. Seeing my little cousin gave them so much hope that they are ready to wipe out all of the Lamian soldiers.”

  “Don’t we all. In fact, we plan on switching gears,” I let slip with a smirk.

  “Are we going hunting?” Dante’s eyes widened. I saw his father in them. He would be proud of his son. Dante showed leadership well beyond our wildest imaginations.

  “Yes, pretty soon.” I nodded, knowing that he craved vengeance.

  “Fuck yes. I can’t wait. I want all the heads to roll especially Stavros. He left my mother completely broken.”

  “I understand. We know how much she suffers. I hope that she can find the peace she longs for, but I won’t help her find it.”

  “I know. My heart aches for her, but I don’t want to lose her either.” The remorse he felt poured through him. We all hoped that we were quicker about it and saved Alessio.

  As soon as he closed the door behind us, I told him, “Well there’s more. We have a Lamian soldier and his family as captives on the island.”

  “Really? Did they tell you anything?” He took a seat in chair closest to the main console.

  I took the seat next to him and told him what we have. “Not much. But we may have a place where they all gather if they haven’t cleared out already.”

  “That’s fucking amazing. If you need me for anything let me know. I can have a small army ready anytime you need.”

  “I know you can. The men respect you and that’s excellent. Now, what’s this system?” We spent the next four hours going over all the key features, testing many of them out.

  “Hey, before I go, I need vials of blood for Nora. Not just from you, but about ten different people.”

  “Wow, is there a breakthrough?”

  “A small change. Nora needs more samples to test.”

  “That’s incredible. I won’t say anything, but let’s get some samples.” We got a couple questions in the process. Many of them were the same. Is there a cure? I couldn’t say there was, but I said that Nora is working harder on it now that she’s recovered from the baby’s birth.

  After a quick recon job, I returned to the castle, messaging Falcon and having a brief meeting with him in his office. Things were about to hit the fan, but we needed to be proactive. Time for holding back has passed.

  I teleported into the security room. “Hey Gideon, I’m back. I need to drop the samples off to Nora. Then I’ll take over with the Holden family.”

  “Sure thing, man. I’m tired. I haven’t had time to sleep right.”

  “I’m sorry. Get your sleep and then we can switch in ten hours.”

  “Thanks, man.”

  Chapter 31

  Leonora

  The sun had a while before it rose, but I couldn't sit on my hands any longer. I had to get to work. I fed Speranza while Falcon slept by my side. Once I finished, I settled her in her cradle and dressed for the day and kissed Falcon goodbye. Since I just fed the baby and I was going to take another pint of blood from myself, I made my way to the kitchen to fill up on iron and protein-rich foods.

  To my surprise, Mary was already there with a cup of coffee in her hands. "Good morning, Leonora," she greeted me.

  "I hope it's a great morning,” I answered back. The thrill of having the key in my hands.

  "Same here. I hope I'm not going to bother you while you work."

  "Not at all. Draco will be on his way back soon with more samples to test. If the sample converts and survives the sun, we can do a live trial. Only if you're ready."

  "Ready? Leonora, I have been waiting for this. Nearly my entire life. All the vampires are this way because I refused a sorcerer."

  "You know that none of the blame is on you. None of it."

  "Only the blame I feel myself. I cannot bring back my husband or son, but I will do what I can to help."

  "I know. I won’t pass up an opportunity for help.”

  Mary hovered over me the entire first hour. Then I made her useful by giving her something to do. Draco returned with 20 samples. He had each person label their samples. "Nora, we need to be fast about this. I know you have a lot at stake, but with Speranza's birth the men are getting antsy."

  "I understand, Draco. They expected that the war would be over with her birth, but it said we'd bring the war to an end not when."

  "Yes, but seeing the need for vials of blood, they became curious and extremely hopeful."

  "Oh heavens. I hope we can go rescue Vigo and his family before the cure is out. Stavros will kill them if he finds out."

  "I believe that Falcon plans to go tonight,” Draco let slip. Falcon failed to mention that to me. Suddenly, I was pissed off. In anger, I squeezed the vial in my hand breaking it. "Shit." I cut my hand.

  "Damn, sorry, Leonora. I didn't mean to piss you off.” He rushed around to help me, but the cut was small and mixed with Dante’s vial. That was a waste.

  “Nora, what are you doing?”

  “This is Dante’s blood. I’m not going to waste this opportunity.” I stuck my hand in the little-windowed hole and waited. I felt the warmth of the sun on my skin. No more than any other time I was out in the sun. I didn’t feel the blood turn to dust on my skin, so I kept my hand out there a little longer.

  Pulling it back, we all gasped. “It works,” Mary cried. The blood on my hand started to dry as regular blood would in the sun. We all started screaming with joy. Falcon came rushing to the room, startling us.

  “What the hell happened to you? Are you okay?” he roared, frantically looking over my body. Extremely furious with him, I punched him in the chest. He blanched and took a step back.

  “You’re what’s wrong with me. But first, we’re celebrating. Most of this blood is Dante’s.”

  “You put it in the sun?” he asked, his eyes staring at the blood on my hand then back at me.

  “Yes, and it worked.” He smiled wider than I’d ever seen, then wrapped his strong arms around my waist and spun me around the room. “Put me down, you big dummy.”

  “As soon as you tell me why you’re mad,” he demanded, holding me tight to his body with my legs dangling in the air.

  I scowled at him and let him know how mad I was. “You were going to rescue Vigo without telling me.”

  He slid me down his body without letting me go, he said, “I was going to tell you. I only told Draco last night and I didn’t want to disturb your sleep since you had very important work in the lab.”

  “I suppose that I’m staying here, right?” I asked, eyeing him crossly.

  “Yes, that would be correct,” he answered, bending down and stealing a kiss. I accepted it, but then shoved him away with a little more force than necessary.

  “No don’t try to get away without telling me more. I’m not buying it, mister. You think kissing me is going to get you out of telling me what’s going on you’re wrong.” Even with the success of the bloodwork, the urge to snap on Falcon grew.

  I caught the saddened and concern expression on my mate’s face. “Nora, what’s wrong with you? You’re a bit emotional this morning. I just wanted to kiss my wife like I always do. I have no intention of keeping it a secret.” He brushed his hand along my jaw. I turned my head to feel his warmth.

  I regretted my behavior immediately. “I’m sorry, Falcon. I’m moody this morning and I’m not sure why.”

  "You're probably stressed, my love,” he whispered, pulling me into hi
s arms. Goodness, the overwhelming need to be held controlled my whole being.

  His mouth came down on mine for a brief kiss. I pulled back, then sighed, "Probably so, but that's not going to stop soon."

  "No, I'm sure it won't."

  "While I get cleaned up, please tell me about this plan of yours."

  "Draco has done some added intel around the moorlands and we have been able to narrow it down the number of soldiers guarding the complex. Unfortunately, I am going to need Gideon for this. I've decided to send you to the wolves until we return. They are the only ones I feel we can trust. I don’t want to leave you here with the Holdens. They are still considered the enemy."

  "That's fine. Have the wolves been made aware of it?"

  "They will, but I refuse to risk an advanced notice."

  I nodded in acceptance of his plan. I had a feeling that things would be coming to a head very soon. Falcon seemed determined to end this and I could feel his power emanating from him. I stepped away to wash the blood off my hands. I hadn't been surprised at the results, only amazed at my attitude. I had a strange feeling that there was a true reason for my temper. Taking a deep breath, I relaxed in his arms. "That’s it, my love. Let that stress out."

  "Falcon, I'm hungry,” I muttered as he pulled me back into his arms.

  "Do you want to eat and work, or would you like to eat then come back."

  “Mary wants more results, right?” She blushed because we all know this means more to her than us.

  “I can eat and work. It’s not a big deal. Make sure you get food for our guests down there.”

  “Yes, Mrs. Lombardi,” he whispered against my neck. God, this wasn’t the time or the place for it.

  "Can you get me a Philly cheesesteak?"

  "Sure. I'll pick up food for everyone.”

  I waved him off and headed back to the microscope. I swear we could have the cure by tomorrow.

  Chapter 32

  Charlotte